Winter Wonderland...

Well, I'm spending a few days in West Brooklyn.  I probably shouldn't spend quite so much time here, but I have four days off in a row and 1) I don't have much of anything to do at my apartment, 2) my mom and I have actually wound up on really good terms with each other in the last couple of years, and 3) sometimes I really like being out in the boondocks for a few days.  I know everyone that lives in the Gurnee/Zion area thinks it's the middle of nowhere, cuz it's not Chicago.  But I'm telling you...that's all relative, and compared to where I'm from, it's a freaking thriving metropolis in Gurnee.  I still remember being ecstatic back when I moved to DeKalb, because gas stations were open past 8pm, I could get food delivered to my house, AND I didn't have to drive 45 minutes to get to the movie theater.  Thrilling, I tell you.  And don't even get me started on the first time we drove into Geneva/Batavia at night and saw all the lights...it might as well have been Chicago to us.  It's good to be easily impressed, I suppose.  When the opening of the 24 hour WalMart 45 minutes away was cause for celebration, and the most exciting thing there was to do on Friday night when I was in high school...well...you can see why 1) I get a little out of sorts and panicky when I'm thrust into somewhere like Chicago...it's overwhelming compared to bufu, 2) I think anywhere else that I've ever lived is amazing and fantastic, and 3) why I like getting back to the middle of nowhere for some peace and quiet...where I can be annoyed that a vehicle I don't recognize is driving on OUR road (I mean, what are they DOING here?  We're not on the WAY to anywhere)...where I can battle snow that doesn't get plowed till Monday, and not till after school starts, cuz there aren't any bus-riding kids on our road...and where I can park in the middle of the road and take pictures of pretty trees without worrying that I might cause a pile-up.  So here they are :)

Well that's all for tonight...two posts in one day...woot!  :)

Ringing in the New Year...

So yesterday, I helped my mom design and put together her "I-ran-out-of-time-to-send-Christmas-cards-so-I'm-sending-them-for-New-Years" cards.  It was fun...knocked out a couple dozen in about four and a half hours, and felt pretty accomplished.  Now on to filling out and addressing them...woohoo!  They're both made with: Stampendous stamps, American Crafts Ribbon, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Polar Ice Flowersoft, Watercolor pencils, and Stardust pen.  Here they are:

Snowflakes

Flurries

Happy New Year everyone!  :)

Zentangles...

So a customer asked Heidi if we had supplies for doing Zentangles the other night.  We didn't, but she was curious and did some online research, and has since created Zentangles monsters of a few of us at work.  In case you're wondering, Zentangles are basically glorified doodling (they were actually included in my vocab post a few months ago before I even knew much about them).  Also known as Zendoodles, they're basically doodling with a purpose that tends to have a relaxing/hypnotic effect (hence, the Zen part).  I scraplifted (yes, that's legit in the world of scrapping) Heidi's book of patterns and have been doing some research online for more, along with templates and whatnot.  I think I'm going to make myself a letterblock tray of them to hang in my livingroom, and I'm SUPER excited about it.  :)  Here's some shots of my pattern book...more to come when I'm further into some works in progress:

That's all for tonight!  More soon :)

OCD mixtapes...

First things first, please note:  I say "mixtapes" for nostalgic purposes only...obviously with the reign of the digital era, they're not truly mixtapes anymore, but you get my drift. 

So anyone that's been on a roadtrip with me in excess of three hours in either direction knows that I take my mixtapes seriously.    For two reasons, I think: 1) I used to be a music major, and 2) I'm a control freak.  One time, my ex said he made a mix tape for a vacation we were going on...it consisted of a half a dozen Pink Floyd songs, a half a dozen Dave Matthews songs, and a couple of random Bob Marley songs tacked on at the end.  I nearly had a stroke over it.  Putting solid chunks of two different CDs onto one CD together does NOT a mixtape make. 

There are three main considerations when making a mix:  1) Varied tempo and style (nobody wants to listen to what  sounds like the same song over and over again when they're attempting to stay awake while driving), 2) a small number of related but unfamiliar songs mixed with older nostalgic ones, and 3) finding the right songs to evoke the right feelings for the occasion.  I'm telling you...I'm seriously OCD about the whole thing...I could spend hours.  I DID spend hours...back in the day when a mixtape was REALLY on cassette tape and you had to record it in real-time.   Oh, how mp3s have saved hours of my life!

Anyway, so all that said, we're having a holiday CD exchange at work instead of the more traditional gift exchange.  I spent WAY too much time on iTunes looking for just the right music...made extra difficult by the fact that typically they just remake the same couple dozen holiday songs every year instead of ever writing new ones.  That said, I did find a couple of new, non-traditional songs.  My official holiday playlist is as follows:

1) (It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus - Harry Connick, Jr.
2)  All My Bells Are Ringing - Lenka
3)  Someday At Christmas - Jack Johnson
4) Christmas for Cowboys  - Jars of Clay
5) Christmas - Blues Traveler
6) Frosty the Snowman - Fiona Apple
7) Winter Song - Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
8) O Holy Night - Weezer
9)  Carol of the Bells - Emmy Rossum
10) It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - Sixpence None the Richer
11) The Heartache Can Wait - Brandi Carlile
12) Winterlove - Parachute
13) Maybe Next Year (X-mas Song) - Meiko
14) All That I Want - The Weepies
15) Baby, It's Cold Outside - Lady Antebellum
16) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Jack Johnson
17) Melekalikimaka - Bette Midler
18) Feels Like Christmas - Cyndi Lauper
19) Zat You Santa Claus - The Brian Setzer Orchestra
20 ) Must Be Santa - Bob Dylan

We're also making cases to hand them out in (see below).  I made mine with the MME Holiday paper, Martha Stewart Scoring Tool, Patterned and solid cardstock, American Crafts ribbon, TPC Studios holiday embellishments:

That's all for tonight!  More soon :)